Nature: Life's Built-In Automation Engine

Humans have been bending nature to their whim since the dawn of civilization, and it is a full-time job for many keeping nature out of the way. Alan and I learned this firsthand over the course of the last year and wish to share the lessons we learned with others: trust Nature Automation and your aquatic pets will thank you.

A Cautionary Tale: Fighting Against Nature Automation

Admiral Shiny Sides and the His First Mate Tank

Admiral Shiny Side, sadly, passed away in the heat of battle during his 5th deployment after 16 years of loyal service; posthumously promoted to Fleet Admiral Shiny Sides. His first mate, Tank, failed to lead with the same authority and followed Admiral Shiny Sides not long after. Ensign Alan fought the lonely and uphill battle of maintaining the ship since its inception: swabbing the poop rocks, manning the main filters, and keeping the mess hall fully stocked.

Tank was assigned three new recruits upon the passing of Fleet Admiral Shiny Sides. Morale amongst the crew never recovered, even while the valiant Ensign Alan took on the task of making the long journey at sea as comfortable as possible. In the end, the effort to uphold the same standards proved fruitless. One by one they succumbed to the siren’s seductive song.

They will be missed.

If you’re confused, that’s understandable; Admiral Shiny Sides and his first mate were Alan’s goldfish for 16 years, which I, for one, had no idea they could live such long and fulfilling lives. Moving in marked their 5th home move, and it was just too much for these intrepid sailors – and nearly triggered the retirement of the battle-hardened S.S. Aquarium.

The Road to Recovery is Long and Hard

Taking care of fish can be a lot of work: vacuuming the waste, replacing filters, cleaning out algae, addressing illness, and feeding. The aquarium was always Alan’s project, and provided a very clear indication of his general mood; when stressed or overburdened, the aquarium maintenance would be put on hold and only further the level of stress he experienced. The loss of our fish was conflicting, we loved our pets but the effort to maintain the equilibrium violated the prime directive of laziness that permeates our existence.

We decided to start over. After lots of research, we drained the aquarium, replaced the gravel, and focused on keeping some aquarium plants alive before we put any more naval recruits in mortal danger. After 2 months, our plants were thriving and it was time to assign a new crew to the S.S. Aquarium – this time, we sought expert advice from the employees of Aquamart. One of their friendly staff taught us how to use the ecosystem through bio-filters and the right blend of aquatic species to be introduced slowly to implement nature automation.

The road to recovery is far from a linear journey. We did lose a few recruits along the way, but such is life – there’s no guarantee any of us, animals included, will live long and healthy lives. These losses were very hard for us animal lovers, but we know we did our best. The first live fish we introduced were a few Corydoras, these are small, bottom-feeder, freshwater catfish – unfortunately for them, the tank was not quite as stable as we thought, and we ended up losing all three of them. Their loss was not in vain. Researching their symptoms and what solutions were available, we switched to SeaChem for, essentially, all of our aquarium treatments. We have suffered other losses, but only to those fish we ordered online and perished in transport.

Our aquarium is a thriving ecosystem now, requiring only basic maintenance. Gone are the evenings dedicated to 3-4 hours of tending to the aquarium. We devote around 20 minutes every few weeks to replenishing water that has evaporated and rinsing off the bio-filters. We do add some chemicals every so often: plant food, liquid CO2, stress-reducers – but we do so while we are admiring our beautiful fish. Thriving so well, we discovered we accidentally purchased two female guppies when we came home from vacation to around 12 tiny baby fantails that are now starting to show their colors!

Why Did We Succeed Where We Failed Before

Fleet Admiral Shiny Sides, Tank, and their crew were very dirty. Goldfish are prone to polluting their tank with nitrates and ammonia. Choosing the appropriate species helps reduce toxins and waste present in your underwater ecosystem. In addition to reducing the pollutants, these aquarium fish are much more active and colorful, creating living art that we love to admire daily.

Algae are actually bacteria that contain chlorophyll and require many of the same resources that are consumed by plants. Originally we planted plastic and silicone plants in our aquarium; by planting living plants there are little-to-no resources left for algae to consume. Common sense right? Except, it’s not. It’s amazing how many people, including ourselves, are willing to dedicate hours every month cleaning and removing algae from their water-dwelling pets’ homes.

Carbon filters are a complete waste of time and money – bio-filters promote healthy bacteria and reduce harmful bacteria. Sure, carbon filters remove solid waste and help cleanse the water, but fish, like humans, do not live in a hermetically sealed environment. You can purchase a bio-wheel filter from most pet stores, however, we discovered them to be fragile and ineffective. As our helpful Aquamart employee explained, utilizing bio-media rocks to remove ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates from our aquarium, Purigen to promote healthy bacteria, and a little filter media to filter out the solid waste was the most cost-effective and time-efficient solution.

In addition, we installed an under gravel filter, to help keep any particulate matter from clouding the tank. The fish actually love these, swimming through the bubbles to get a little morning swim in before a hard day’s work. Don’t fight it, let nature automation in!

See For Yourself

We are so proud of how far we have come and how beautiful our aquarium is that we wanted to share it with the world. Please feel free to watch the live stream of our aquarium here: https://aquarium.prettybaked.com.